Every 10 years, Pennsylvania goes through the process laid out in the state constitution for redrawing our state’s legislative district maps. The Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) has begun holding public hearings ahead of their decision on a final map. Throughout the process, the LRC will have many factors to consider including whether or not to continue a decades-long practice that is in direct violation of the Commonwealth's election code. That practice is known as prison gerrymandering.
Pennsylvania election code (25 Pa.C.S.§1302(3)) says, “No individual who is confined to a penal institution shall be deemed a resident of the election district where the institution is located. The individual shall be deemed to reside where the individual was last registered before being confined to the penal institution, or if there was no registration prior to confinement, the individual shall be deemed to reside at the last known address before confinement.” In other words, the way maps are currently drawn, incarcerated people who are eligible to vote (those held for misdemeanors or pre-trial) cannot vote in the district where they are incarcerated, yet they are counted as residents for redistricting purposes.
Counting incarcerated Pennsylvanians in the districts they are temporarily held runs counter to the principle of “one person, one vote,” which requires that election districts be made up of roughly the same number of constituents so that every person receives the same level of representation. The result of prison gerrymandering is that our maps inflate the population count — and thus, the political influence — of the areas where prisons and jails are located. As a result, the voting power of everyone living outside of those lines is weakened. Fourteen out of 67 counties in the state house one (or more) of the Commonwealth's state prisons.. And because temporarily-incarcerated Pennsylvanians from all counties are housed at these prisons, whether you live in an urban or rural area of the state, you are likely being impacted by this practice.
Another impact of prison gerrymandering goes to the heart of our representative democracy — a lack of representation for incarcerated people. It’s been my personal experience that legislators in the districts that house prisons are unwilling to help incarcerated people. When my sister was in SCI Muncy, a state women’s prison in Clinton Township, Lycoming County, she was waiting for what is called a “green sheet.” The “green sheet” is a paper notifying you of the parole board's decision and your release date. Months had gone by since she had seen the parole board, and nobody would give her or my mother any answers about how long she would be there. After getting the runaround from the Department of Corrections (DOC) for an extended period of time, my mom called the legislator in Muncy for help. They told her, “Sorry, we don’t do anything with the inmates.” Still not wanting to give up, she called her own legislator, Representative Scott Conklin. He called her back within a few hours and read her my sister's green sheet. He then followed up to make sure the DOC actually got it to her. The difference was one of these legislators saw my sister as their constituent, while the other did not.. This level of representation should be the bare minimum for ALL Pennsylvania residents.
This time around things can be different. The Chair of the LRC, Mark Nordenberg, announced that prison gerrymandering will be the topic of one of the upcoming public hearings. Over thirty-five organizations doing work on voting rights and democracy issues from across Pennsylvania have sent Commission members a letter calling for an end for prison gerrymandering.
Let’s hope the Legislative Reapportionment Commission does the right thing by ending the undemocratic practice of prison gerrymandering this year.
Jenna Henry is the Deputy Director of Better PA.
Pennsylvania election code (25 Pa.C.S.§1302(3)) says, “No individual who is confined to a penal institution shall be deemed a resident of the election district where the institution is located. The individual shall be deemed to reside where the individual was last registered before being confined to the penal institution, or if there was no registration prior to confinement, the individual shall be deemed to reside at the last known address before confinement.” In other words, the way maps are currently drawn, incarcerated people who are eligible to vote (those held for misdemeanors or pre-trial) cannot vote in the district where they are incarcerated, yet they are counted as residents for redistricting purposes.
Counting incarcerated Pennsylvanians in the districts they are temporarily held runs counter to the principle of “one person, one vote,” which requires that election districts be made up of roughly the same number of constituents so that every person receives the same level of representation. The result of prison gerrymandering is that our maps inflate the population count — and thus, the political influence — of the areas where prisons and jails are located. As a result, the voting power of everyone living outside of those lines is weakened. Fourteen out of 67 counties in the state house one (or more) of the Commonwealth's state prisons.. And because temporarily-incarcerated Pennsylvanians from all counties are housed at these prisons, whether you live in an urban or rural area of the state, you are likely being impacted by this practice.
Another impact of prison gerrymandering goes to the heart of our representative democracy — a lack of representation for incarcerated people. It’s been my personal experience that legislators in the districts that house prisons are unwilling to help incarcerated people. When my sister was in SCI Muncy, a state women’s prison in Clinton Township, Lycoming County, she was waiting for what is called a “green sheet.” The “green sheet” is a paper notifying you of the parole board's decision and your release date. Months had gone by since she had seen the parole board, and nobody would give her or my mother any answers about how long she would be there. After getting the runaround from the Department of Corrections (DOC) for an extended period of time, my mom called the legislator in Muncy for help. They told her, “Sorry, we don’t do anything with the inmates.” Still not wanting to give up, she called her own legislator, Representative Scott Conklin. He called her back within a few hours and read her my sister's green sheet. He then followed up to make sure the DOC actually got it to her. The difference was one of these legislators saw my sister as their constituent, while the other did not.. This level of representation should be the bare minimum for ALL Pennsylvania residents.
This time around things can be different. The Chair of the LRC, Mark Nordenberg, announced that prison gerrymandering will be the topic of one of the upcoming public hearings. Over thirty-five organizations doing work on voting rights and democracy issues from across Pennsylvania have sent Commission members a letter calling for an end for prison gerrymandering.
Let’s hope the Legislative Reapportionment Commission does the right thing by ending the undemocratic practice of prison gerrymandering this year.
Jenna Henry is the Deputy Director of Better PA.